706 poisons : their effects and detection. [§ 904 . 
with all the general symptoms of poisoning by zinc, and that metal was 
found in the liver and other organs. 
The symptoms observed in fatal cases of chloride of zinc poisoning are 
—immediate pain in the throat, and burning of the lips, tongue, etc. 
There is difficulty in swallowing, an increase in the secretion of saliva, 
vomiting of bloody matters, diarrhoea, collapse, coma, and death. In 
some cases life has been prolonged for days ; but, on the other hand, 
death has been known to occur in a few hours. In those cases in 
which recovery has taken place, or in which death is delayed, nervous 
symptoms rarely fail to make their appearance. In a case recorded 
by Dr It. Hassal, 3 ozs. of Burnett’s fluid were swallowed. The usual 
symptoms of intense gastro-intestinal irritation ensued, but there 
was 110 purging until the third day ; after the lapse of a fortnight, 
a train of nervous symptoms set in, indicated by a complete perver¬ 
sion of taste and smell. In other cases, aphonia, tetanic affections 
of groups of muscles, with great muscular weakness and impairment 
of sight, have been noticed. Very large doses of zinc chloride have been 
recovered from: e.g., a man had taken a solution equivalent to about 13 
grms. (200 grains) of the solid chloride. Vomiting came on immediately, 
and there was collapse, but he recovered in sixteen days. On the other 
hand, -38 grm. (6 grains) has destroyed life after several weeks’ illness. 
§ 904. Post-mortem Appearances. —In poisoning by sulphate of 
zinc, the appearances usually seen are inflammation, more or less intense, 
of the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels. In St George’s 
Hospital Museum there is (ser. ix. 43 and 198) the stomach of a man 
who died from zinc sulphate, and whose case is reported in the Lancet, 
1859. The mucous membrane is wrinkled all over like a piece of 
tripe ; when recent it was vascular and indurated, but uniformly of a 
dirty grey colour ; the lining membrane of the small intestine is very 
vascular, and in the duodenum and upper part of the jejunum the colour 
is similar to that of the stomach, but in a less marked degree ; the 
stomach and intestines are contracted. 
The pathological appearances after chloride of zinc vary according to 
the period at which death takes place. When it has occurred within a 
few hours, the lining membrane of the mouth and gullet shows a marked 
change in texture, being white and opaque, the stomach hard and 
leathery, or much corrugated and ulcerated. In cases in which life has 
been prolonged, contractions of the gullet and stomach may occur very 
similar to those caused by the mineral acids, and with a similar train of 
symptoms. In a case which occurred under Dr Markham’s 1 observation, 
a person died ten weeks after taking the fatal dose, the first symptoms 
subsiding in a few days, and the secondary set of symptoms not com¬ 
mencing for three weeks. They then consisted mainly of vomiting, until 
. 1 Med, Times and Gazette, June 11 , 1859, p. 595. 
